Nassim
The Huntington Calderwood
October 4 – October 27, 2024
Written and Performed by: Nassim Soleimanpour
Directed by: Omar Elerian
Featuring: A different, local VIP every performance
The Huntington Calderwood
527 Tremont St. Boston, MA 02116
Approximate run time: 75 minutes, no intermission
Notable Dates:
Opening Night: 10/9 at 7 pm
Synopsis:
From Iranian playwright Nassim Soleimanpour comes an audacious new theatrical experiment. Each night a different VIP performs, while the script waits unseen in a sealed box… Touchingly autobiographical yet powerfully universal, Nassim is a striking theatrical demonstration of how language can both divide and unite us. Nassim is toured globally and is translated and performed in the native language of each country.
★★★★★
“NASSIM swells with emotion and harnesses the power of language to foster connection. Audience members laughed, shouted, and cheered!”
–WBUR
“I want everyone to see this because it’s such a beautiful piece.”
– Jared Bowen, GBH
“A deeply humane and heartwarming experience!”
– Joyce Kulhawik, JoycesChoices.com
“Touching, poignant, and a hell of a lot of fun!”
– METR Mag
“Charming and timely! Take a chance with this little gem, you won’t be disappointed!”
–Shelley A. Sackett, Theater Mirror
★★★★★
Guest Performers:
Click the image to learn more about each guest performer!
Marianna Bassham
October 21st at 7:00 pm
Marianna Bassham
Marianna Bassham is a Boston-based actor/teacher/director. At The Huntington she has performed in Hurricane Diane, Sweat, Common Ground Revisited, Romeo and Juliet, Yerma, I Was Most Alive with You (in a role she reprised at Playwrights Horizons), Becoming Cuba, Our Town, and The Luck of the Irish, and The Band’s Visit (co-produced with SpeakEasy Stage).
Veronica Anastasio Wiseman
October 23rd at 7:00 pm
Veronica Anastasio Wiseman
Veronica Anastasio Wiseman currently serves on the Board of Trustees of The Huntington.
She grew up in Westport CT, earned a BFA in Theatre Performance from Boston University in 1981, and an MA in Communication Disorders from UMASS Amherst in 1989.
Nael Nacer
October 24th at 7:00 pm
Nael Nacer
Nael Nacer is an award-winning actor based in Boston, MA. This past year he made his Broadway debut in the Tony nominated production of Josh Harmon’s Prayer for the French Republic, directed by Tony winner David Cromer. Previous credits at The Huntington include: Leopoldstadt, Prayer for the French Republic, Romeo and Juliet, A Doll’s House, Bedroom Farce, Come Back, Little Sheba, Awake and Sing!, The Seagull, and Our Town (directed by David Cromer). Broadway: Prayer for the French Republic (Manhattan Theatre Club).
Jack Lepiarz (Jacques Ze Whipper)
October 25th at 7:30 pm
Jack Lepiarz (Jacques Ze Whipper)
Jack Lepiarz grew up traveling the world with the circus and somehow also getting a completely normal education in the suburbs of New York. After 13 years working a real job at WBUR 90.9 FM, he ran back away with the circus in early 2023 and now spends his time as a full-time comedian/circus performer working at theaters, comedy clubs, and Renaissance Festivals around the country. In his off-time, he lives just outside Boston with his wife and cat.
Ricardo Pérez González
October 26th at 2:00 pm
Ricardo Pérez González
Ricardo Pérez González is a queer Puerto Rican writer with mofongo on his lips and salsa on his hips. He began his TV writing career on the third season of Netflix’s of DESIGNATED SURVIVOR for Netflix and eOne Entertainment and recently created a sci-fi mystery podcast set in the high-flying world of female gymnastics, FLIPPED, with Neal Baer and Mark Stern at Echoverse. With Neal, he is also developing THE EDIT, a CRISPR-inspired TV drama, for Sony and director Seth Gordon, as well as TIERGARTEN, a gripping queer romance/murder-mystery set in Berlin.
John Kolvenbach
October 26th at 7:30 pm
John Kolvenbach
John Kolvenbach is a playwright. His latest play, Stand Up If You’re Here Tonight premiered in LA, played at American Blues in Chicago, then in Paris and at The Huntington in February of 2024. On the West End: Love Song (Olivier nomination, Best New Comedy, directed by John Crowley) and On an Average Day (with Woody Harrelson and Kyle MacLachlan, also directed by Mr. Crowley.) Love Song premiered at Steppenwolf in 2006, directed by Austin Pendelton. It has been produced in New York, Zurich, Melbourne, Sydney, Wellington, Seoul and Rome. There have been over fifty productions in the U.S. Average Day was produced in Los Angeles by VS. (with Johnny Clark and Stef Tovar) and in Chicago by VS. and Route 66. Average Day has been produced in Tel Aviv, Buenos Aires, and Lisbon.
Imari K. Paris Jeffries, PhD
October 27th at 2:00 pm
Imari K. Paris Jeffries, PhD
Imari K. Paris Jeffries, PhD is the President and CEO of Embrace Boston, where he is leading a citywide racial equity transformation through The Embrace monument, the Embrace Center, and ongoing community organizing efforts. Imari brings a wealth of experience from the nonprofit management, racial equity, community activism, education reform, and social justice sectors and has served in executive roles at Parenting Journey, Jumpstart, Boston Rising, and Friends of The Children.
Previous Guest Performers:
Naheem Garcia
Naheem Garcia
Naheem Garcia (he/him/el) Alexis Rene Garcia, professionally known as Naheem Garcia, has been an actor and theatre educator for thirty years. He grew up in Boston, MA, arriving here from Cuba with his mother, grandmother, and aunt in 1968. This proud bilingual (English and Spanish) artist is known for his deep, mellifluous voice. As a teenager, Naheem developed his acting skills in Boston Youth Theater and received his formal training in theater arts at New African Company, where he has been a Distinguished Artist-In-Residence since 2004. Naheem is the Founder and lead teaching Artist for NG edutainment, an Arts/Education Program, founded in Boston Massachusetts. He is the Residence Teaching Artist and a member of The Huntington’s Education Department, for close to 30 years.
Elle Borders
Elle Borders
Elle Borders is a Boston based Actress, Voiceover Artist, Writer and Educator. Recent credits: Genesis in The Light (WAM Theatre-Special Presentation), Mr. Joy (Kitchen Theatre CompanySpecial Presentation); We All Fall Down (Huntington Theatre Company).
Melinda Lopez
Melinda Lopez
Melinda Lopez was the inaugural playwright-in-residence at The Huntington, 2013-2019, as part of the Mellon Foundations National Playwright Residency Program. She is the recipient of the 2019 Mass Cultural Council Award in Dramatic Writing, and the 2019 Elliot Norton Award for sustained excellence celebrating her twenty-year career as a playwright, performer, and educator.
Armando Rivera
Armando Rivera
Armando Rivera (he/him) is a Boston based director and actor, and serves as Co-Artistic Director of Teatro Chelsea, a bilingual Latino theater company in Chelsea, MA. Born in Bayamon, Puerto Rico, Armando’s current creative work is centered on a passionate rediscovery of his Latiné roots through cultural exploration, bilingual immersion, and expansion of what types of Latiné stories are shared on the stage. His current focus lies in uplifting new Latiné narratives that highlight the bilingual experience and resonate with diverse communities.
Kenneth Cheeseman
Kenneth Cheeseman
Kenneth Cheeseman has been in several productions at The Huntington, American Repertory Theatre, and most of the professional theaters in the Boston area. Ken was trained at the Trinity Rep Conservatory and owes his theatrical inspiration to the incomparable artistic director Adrian Hall and the amazing company of actors he assembled at Trinity Repertory Theatre. Ken’s other influences are world renowned improvisation teacher, Keith Johnstone, voice teacher Kristin Linklater, and the genius of director, acting teacher and close friend, Andrei Belgrader.
Celeste Olivia
Celeste Olivia
Celeste Olivia happily returns to the stage and to The Huntington after a 3-year hiatus. Oliva was a regular on Boston stages and last appeared in Tiny Beautiful Things earning her an Elliot Norton award. She was a member of the cast of the long running Shear Madness which also took her off Broadway. Other projects include Ch’inglish, Grounded, Between Riverside and Crazy, and Arcadia. Oliva just wrapped filming on a new Amazon series where she portrays Camille Russo.
Jennifer Apple
Jennifer Apple
Jennifer Apple is a multi-hyphenated artist from NYC, who is in playful pursuit of truth, vulnerability, & empathy in the arts. She originated the role of Anna in the 10x Tony Award-winning The Band’s Visit First National Tour and received the 2024 Elliott Norton Award for Outstanding Lead Performance in a Musical for Dina in The Band’s Visit at The Huntington/SpeakEasy Stage.
Jared Bowen
Jared Bowen
Jared Bowen is the host of The Culture Show, a daily radio program and podcast on 89.7 GBH. He is also the Emmy award-winning Executive Arts Editor at GBH exploring the creative process through a lively mix of local and national artist profiles, performances and exhibitions. Jared is a special correspondent for the PBS NewsHour and covers the latest happenings in the region’s theater, art, music, dance and film scenes on GBH’s Morning Edition and Boston Public Radio. He is also the moderator of the Boston Speakers Series at Symphony Hall facilitating conversations with luminaries from world leaders to Oscar-winning actors. He is a member of the Boston Theater Critics Association and serves on the Board of Directors for the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.
Karen MacDonald
Karen MacDonald
Karen MacDonald is a Boston based actor, director and teacher. Her recent work includes Wipeout (Gloucester Stage), A Christmas Carol, Gaslight, (Merrimack Rep Theatre), Common Ground Revisited (The Huntington), Heroes of the Fourth Turning (SpeakEasy Stage), and Rooted (Lyric Stage).
Brenda Meaney
Brenda Meaney
Brenda Meaney The Huntington: Leopoldstadt. Broadway: Uncle Vanya (Lincoln Center Theatre). Off Broadway: Indian Ink (Roundabout); Incognito (MTC); Party Face (NY City Center); Fuente Ovejuna (TFANA); Little Gem (Irish Rep); The Mountains Look Different, The New Morality (The Mint); Great Negro Works of Art, (LaBute Short Play Festival).
Tony Shalhoub
Mfoniso Udofia
Mfoniso Udofia
Mfoniso Udofia, a first-generation Nigerian-American storyteller and educator, attended Wellesley College and obtained her MFA from the American Conservatory Theater [A.C.T.]. While at A.C.T., she co-pioneered, THE NIA PROJECT which provided artistic outlets for San Francisco youth.
LaWhore Vagistan
LaWhore Vagistan
LaWhore Vagistan is everyone’s favorite overdressed, overeducated, overopinionated South Asian drag aunty. She has performed at the Wilbur Theatre and La Mama with Sasha Velour, as well as at the Austin International Drag Festival, Asia Society, AS220, Queens Museum, Jack Theater, Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance, Not Festival, Links Hall, and ART Oberon.
Betty Who
Betty Who
Betty Who if you need to know anything about Australian-American pop trailblazer Betty Who, it’s that she is a survivor. Born Jessica Newham in Sydney, Australia, the classically trained singer, dancer, and multi-instrumentalist has experienced practically every dimension of pop cultural visibility: going viral on the bombastic strength of 2014 single “Somebody Loves You,” soundtracking Netflix’s Queer Eye reboot with “All Things,” forming deep ties with foundations like GLAAD and the Trevor Project, and becoming an LGBTQ+ icon due to her infectious, always-inclusive artistry.
Michael Maso
Michael Maso
Michael Maso led The Huntington’s administrative and financial operations as managing director from 1982 to 2023. He produced more than 260 productions in partnership with four artistic directors and is one of the most well-regarded executives in the theatre industry.
Anthony Febo
Anthony Febo
Anthony Febo is a spoken-word poet, teaching artist, and new dad living in East Providence, RI. He uses vulnerability and joy to reflect, challenge, and celebrate his experience in Puerto Rican and Latinx culture. He is a co-founder of the Lowell based poetry organization FreeVerse! and has toured the country individually and as half of Adobo-Fish-Sauce: a cooking and poetry collaboration. Through Adobo-Fish-Sauce, he was a recipient of the MassART and City of Boston’s Radical Imagination for Racial Justice Grant, the New England Foundation for the Arts Public Art for Spatial Justice Grant, and The Boston Foundation’s Live Arts Boston Grant. They’ve been awarded residencies at the Boston Center for the Arts, the National Teen Arts Convening at the ICA Boston, and the Strange Foundation in New York’s Catskill Mountains.
Keith Lockhart
Keith Lockhart
Keith Lockhart is Conductor of the Boston Pops and Artistic Director of the Brevard Music Center in North Carolina. 2025 will mark his 30th anniversary as Conductor of the Boston Pops, a tenure that includes over 2,250 performances, 45 national tours to more than 150 cities, and five international tours. He and the Pops have made 80 television shows and participated in such high-profile sporting events as Super Bowl XXXVI, the 2008 NBA Finals, the 2013 Boston Red Sox Ring Ceremony, and, most recently, Game 2 of the 2018 World Series between the Boston Red Sox and Los Angeles Dodgers. The annual July 4 Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular draws a live audience of more than half a million, with millions more who watch on television or live webcast.
Mike Gorman
Mike Gorman
Mike Gorman served as the Boston Celtics play-by-player announcer for 43 seasons prior to his retirement at the end of the Championship 2023-2024 season. He currently holds the longest tenure as play-by-play voice for a Boston professional sports franchise. Gorman and the late great Tommy Heinsohn also made up TV’s longest running telecast duo. Gorman’s vast resume as a play-by-play announcer includes being the primary announcer for ESPN’s Big Monday during the 1980’s. He has also called the NCAA basketball tournament on CBS, and the NBA Playoffs on TNT.
John Tobin
John Tobin
John Tobin is a born and raised Bostonian who was elected to five terms on the Boston City Council representing Jamaica Plain and West Roxbury. Today, John enjoys his current role as Vice President of City and Community Engagement for Northeastern University. John has been involved in the Boston comedy scene for the last 33 years starting as a doorperson and booker and today as a producer at venues across the country including as co-owner and founder of Laugh Boston and the Lil Chuck.
Nina Yoshida Nelsen
Nina Yoshida Nelsen
Nina Yoshida Nelsen is in her first season as the Artistic Director of Boston Lyric Opera. An acclaimed mezzo-soprano, Nina is widely recognized both for her extensive performances of Suzuki in Madama Butterfly across North America and Europe, and for her commitment to equity in the arts.
Tony Estrella
Tony Estrella
Tony Estrella has been artistic director at The Gamm Theatre in Rhode Island for 22 seasons where he has appeared in or directed more than 75 productions. His favorite roles at The Gamm include George in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Frank in Brian Friel’s Faith Healer, Hamlet in Hamlet, Moe Axelrod in Awake and Sing! and Vanya in Uncle Vanya. Directorial highlights include Twelfth Night, Hangmen, Bad Jews, Assassins, JQA, True West, Festen, Sara Kane’s 4:48 Psychosis, A Streetcar Named Desire, and the U.S. premieres of Howard Brenton’s Paul and Sarah Waters’ The Night Watch.
Will Lyman
Will Lyman
Will Lyman is well known to Boston audiences, for his work with Commonwealth Shakespeare Co. of which he is a founding Board Member (King Lear, Prospero, Claudius, Brutus and the upcoming Scrooge at the Emerson Majestic), Israeli Stage (Oh God, Ulysses on Bottles), The Huntington (Prayer for the French Republic, All My Sons, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, Dead End), New Rep (Long Day’s Journey into Night, Exits and Entrances, Clean House, Ice Breaker,) Speakeasy (The Dying Gaul), Wheelock (To Kill a Mockingbird), Boston Playwrights’ Theatre (The Wrestling Patient in collaboration with Speakeasy, King of the Jews, A Girl’s War,) and the Nora (Equus, Operation Epsilon). Elsewhere in the U.S. he was a member of the inaugural company at the Denver Center, and has performed with Hartford Stage, Pennsylvania Stage, American Place, George Street Playhouse, NJ Shakespeare, and several Off Broadway productions in New York. He has narrated with the National Symphony (Ivan the Terrible,) and acted in conjunction with the BSO (A Midsummer Night’s Dream), the Cleveland Symphony (Every Good Boy Deserves Favor) and the Handel and Haydn Society (Medea.)
Creative Team:
Nassim Soleimanpour
Playwright
Nassim Soleimanpour
Nassim Soleimanpour is an Iranian playwright and the Artistic Director of the Berlin-based Nassim Soleimanpour Productions. His plays have been translated into over 40 languages and were performed thousands of times by some of the biggest names in the industry worldwide. Best known for his plays White Rabbit Red Rabbit and NASSIM, Soleimanpour has mastered the format of cord-read, where a new actor receives and performs his plays for the first and last time in front of a live audience.
Omar Elerian
Director
Omar Elerian
Omar Elerian is a freelance director, dramaturg and theatre-maker. Italian of Palestinian descent, Omar trained in Italy and then graduated from Lecoq International Theatre School in Paris in 2005. He was the resident Associate Director at the Bush Theatre from 2012 to 2019, where he commissioned and directed some of the theatre’s most successful shows. As sole director for the Bush, his credits include smash-hit Misty by Arinzé Kene (Bush, West End and Off-Broadway), NASSIM by Nassim Soleimanpour (Bush, Traverse Theatre and world tour), Going Through by Estelle Savasta and Islands by Caroline Horton Outside the Bush, he directed Olivier nominated show You’re Not Like The Other Girls Chrissy by Caroline Horton and co-created acclaimed site-specific show The Mill: City of Dreams with Madani Younis for Freedom Studios.
★★★★★
“One of my favorite theatre experiences ever!” -Pauline C.
“This was one of the best productions I have seen in a long time. I loved every minute of it.” -Mariana N.
“It was delightfully unexpected. Loved it!!” -Eran F.
“Nassim was brilliant and surprising. Truly something to experience.” -Benjamin W.
“Nassim is one of the most memorable theatre experiences we have ever had. We are talking friends with us to see it again!” -Lucy K.
★★★★★
View the Digital Program:
DISCOUNT TICKETS
The Huntington offers many different affiliation and aged-based discounts off our ticket prices. Discounts can be applied online, in person, or over the phone. Patrons who purchase discounted tickets must pick up their tickets and provide proof of ID or eligibility at ticketing services before the show. All discounts are subject to availability.
Access Tickets
Patrons who are Deaf and/or blind/low-vision and their guests can purchase tickets to designated ASL-Interpreted, Audio Described, or Open Captioned performances for $20 each.
- Use code ACCESSOC to unlock tickets for Open Captioned performances.
- Use code ACCESSASL to unlock tickets for ASL-Interpreted performances.
- Use code ACCESSAD to unlock tickets for Audio Described performances.
View all Access Performance dates
Active US Military
$25 tickets are available to all performances for Active US Military and their immediate family. Use promo code MILITARY to access US Military pricing. Valid ID required.
Group sales
Groups can save up to 20% off ticket prices for most productions. Student group pricing available. Learn more about group rates.
Huntington Community Membership Initiative (HCMI)
$20 tickets are available to all performances for participants in the Huntington Community Membership Initiative. Use your exclusive HCMI promo code tied to your organization to redeem. Learn more about our Huntington Community Membership Initiative.
HYPE discounts
$40 tickets are available any time for patrons age 40 years and younger as part of our HYPE program (Huntington Young Patron Events). Valid ID required. Tickets are subject to availability and some zone restrictions may apply. Use promo code DISCOUNT to access HYPE (40 Below) pricing. Input code DISCOUNT before seat selection. Promo will apply at checkout. Learn more about HYPE.
Limited Pay-What-You-Wish
At The Huntington, we believe price shouldn’t be a barrier for folks to enjoy world-class theatre. Because of this, we have a limited number of Pay-What-You-Wish tickets available for all Huntington performances for those who need them. Pay-What-You-Wish is not available online. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit Ticketing Services in person at either box office location or call us at 617-266-0800.
Student discounts
$25 tickets are available to all performances for full-time students. Use promo code DISCOUNT to access Student pricing. Valid ID required.
$29 Tickets
In addition to our age and affiliation-based discounts, a limited number of unrestricted $29 tickets are available at each performance.
HOW TO USE DISCOUNT CODES
Enter your promo code into the top right corner of your screen next to “View Cart”. Available discounts will apply automatically after entering the promo code.
For questions about promo codes, please contact our ticketing team by emailing tickets@huntingtontheatre.org or calling 617-266-0800.
The Huntington acknowledges that our physical spaces stand on the occupied homeland of the Massachusett people. We’d like to begin by acknowledging the Massachusett Tribe from whom the Colony, Province and Commonwealth of Massachusetts have taken their name. We’d like to pay respect to the ancestral bloodline of the Massachusett Tribe and their descendants who still inhabit the land to this day. We honor and respect the many native peoples who are connected to this land, past, present and future, including the Nipmuc and Wampanoag peoples.
This land acknowledgement was created by staff of The Huntington with input from the council of The Massachusett Tribe at Ponkapoag. To learn more about the tribe or to donate in support of their current programs, visit their website www.massachusetttribe.org